Sweater drier



' June 26,1945. D GRANT 2,378,922

SWEATER DRIER Filed May 28, 1942 INVEN TOR. pone 0 C. 6/19/71;

' readily adjustable to Patented June 26, 1945 2, 37s,922[- d d SWEATER. mum; a Donald fllGr-ant, as Anselqsgoalirf a Appiic'atiUnMay-M,1942; sria -ivainsos i caims. .wLeza-m-tj My invention relates generally tosweater driers 1 and more particularly to. a drlercomprising an:

commodate sweaters of various sizes.

As is well known, a sweater will dry. approx-v iniately four. times as fast and with a much'bjetter finish if stretched! while drying to allow air "to circulate around the individual fibersofgthe sweater. Various devices havebeend'evelopedto stretch sweaters while drying, but so far astI am aware, they have all been cumbersome or ,complicated in structure. and not particularly satisfactory. It is consequently the maJ'Or object of my expansibleframe, which'may be adjusted-to acwhen expanded a support of the proper shape for the sweater "being dried. d It wur -be understood of course thatwhile-metal wire is now deemed the preferred materiahwires made ofplastic' or other resilient material maybe used in my invention and arebroadlyincluded-in the term wire asused herein; The wire is first bent orotherwise formed V upon itselfto form aflcentral section J ll; which is i invention to provide asweater drier whichis -simple in construction andoperation andTwhich is accommodate various sizes of sweaters;

It'is also an object of my invention to provide a sweaterfdrier which cannot possibly damage the fabric of a sweater andone, whiohlbecause of its adjustability, can be used to either stretch the sweater beyond its normal size orallowthe sweat.-

erto shrink while drying,.these adjustments being possible in either. direction.

One of the major advantages of myinvention is that the driercal'i be. inserted into a sweater having a sma11'neckandthen expanded be lit the sweater and allow it to dry in the proper shape.

Another object of my invention, is to provide a sweater drier which because o1? its simplicity in construction is very economical tomake and can be sold for a relatively low price; so as to put lt within reachjof all whowish tobuyi.

Another. object of my invention is to provide a novel clamping means for use in connection with adjustable frames,.,wherebythe adj ustment thereof is simple and sure.

These and other objects of my invention. will become apparent from the following description of a preferred form thereof, and from the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my preferred form r of sweater drier, showing it in expanded posip tion inside of a sweater shown in dotted outline,

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. l, but showing the drier. in contracted position preparatory to being removed from the sweater shown about it in preferably formedof a single piece of relatively heavy flexible wire bent upon itself to provide preferably straight or 4 horizontal-,; assuming the drier to be normally held in-a v'erticalplani The ends of the wire .beyondthe central?sectiongl'fl extend upwardly to the points l l iandylrwhere they are curved outward-1y and "then brought inwardly at the points Iffiand 4 4,1 respectively:-

Above thesepoints, the wires areagain bent outwardlyand then inwardly to crossi each other 1 with their ends 15 and 1 8 terminating onopposite' sides. The verticallengths of;wire-,-each of which preferably follows a sinuous--path-asdescribed will be herein generally 'referredto :as the resili ent legs of the frame "which are joined "at their lower end by the central section 1 0; the legs c'omprising shoulder portions I 1 and 5| 33, waist portions I9 and 20,and foot portions-2' I and-zz respectively." a i Referring nowparticularlyfto Fig. 3, itwill'be seen that I providean inverted U-shapedresi-Iient clamping bracket 2 3, the branches of which are slotted "to" provide individually compressible clamping elements which I have indicated "as 24, 24A and 25 and 25A,; Eachor the clampingelements is provided with an: aperture adjacent its lower endthroug-h'whieh one -end of the wire frame may be passed. The-wire portion: 2 6 which is the freeend'of the sinuous leg comprised-of the portions l8y 2'll and 22; passes through theapertures in the fiexible clamping' elements 24% and 25?,

while the wire portion 21 which is the free end of the vertical leg comprisedof the portions l1; l9 and 2| passes through. the apertures in clamping elements 24A and 25A. It will thus be seen that leg is adjustable independently by merely compressingthe lower ends of the clamping elements through which it passes. The ends of the wire may be provided with protective coverings 28 and 29, respectively, so that theywill not injure the fabric of a sweater if they become engaged therewith, and suitable supporting means which may take the form of a hook 30 may be provided to suspend the frame from any suitable support.

The operation of my device is asfollows: As-

suming the frame to be in compressed condition as shown in Fig. 2 with the shoulder sections l1 and 18 at their innermost positions, and the free ends 26 and 2'! extended to their outermost positions, the frame is slipped down through the neck of sweater 40 untilthe central section I is adjacent to or below the bottom of the sweater and the shoulder sections l1 and I8 of the frame are supporting the shoulders of the sweater. lower ends of the clamping elements 24 and 26 are then compressed (i. e., moved in or squeezed towards each other) to free the wire portion 26 and said wire portion is pushed outwardly through the apertures to expand the shoulder section I8 and waist section to engage the sweater,

which is then pushed outwardly to expand sections l1 and I9 to engage the other side of the shape of the sweater which is properly held thereon in position for most emcient drying. The frame can then be hung from a clothesline or other support by means of the hook 39 until the sweater is dry.

If the sweater 40 is shorter than the frame, as shown in the drawing, and it'is desired to stretch it vertically, it is a simple matter to attach a piece of cloth or other material to the lower end of the sweater and fasten it to the central portion [0 of the frame, thus pulling down on the sweater until the required tension has been exerted and the sweater is in the proper position for drying. Since sweaters when wet may be stretched considerably and will retain their shape when dry, to stretch a sweater with my. device, it is merely necessary to expand the sinuous legs outwardly more than the normal amount to cause the sweater to assume a larger shape. Conversely, if

- itis desired to shrink the sweater somewhat, the

sinuous legs are not expanded any further than necessary to pro erly support the sweater which is then allowed to dry in semi-shrunken condi- 'tion which it will substantially hold after it'has been removed from the frame.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided a sweater drier which is fully capable ofattaining the advantages and accomplishing the objects previously stated, and while I have described a preferred form in considerable detail, it is, to be understood that, I do not wish to limit The Clamping elements 24A and 25A are then compressed to free the wire portion ll-Z'i myself to the form or materials shown but intend to include all patentable equivalents thereof as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention: 1. A sweater drier, which includes: a wire frame formed with a generally horizontal central section, a pair of upstanding body sections and adjustably hold the same, whereby by compression of opposed legs of said U-shaped brack- V et, said free ends of said frame may be individually adjusted to vary the shape thereof.

2. A sweater drier, which includes: a wire frame formed with a generally horizontal central section, a pair of upstanding body sections formed to support a sweater, the upper portions of said wire passing each other so that the free ends thereof are on opposite sides, and a resilient bracket having a central portion with a pair "of legs on each side. thereof, each leg being provided with an aperture adjacent its lower end, opposed pairs of said apertures being adapted to receive oppositeend portions of said frame and adjustably hold the same, whereby by compression of opposed legs of said bracket, said free ends-of said'frame may be individually adjusted to vary the shape thereof.

8. A sweater drier which includes: a wire frame with a generally,horizontal central section, a pair of upstanding body sections formed to support a sweater, the upper portions of said wirepassing each other so that the free ends thereof are on opposite sides; and a bracket having two pairs-of separate resilient clamping portions adapted to separately clamp opposite end portions ,of said frame and adjustably hold the same, whereby said free ends of said frame may be individually adjusted to vary the shape thereof.

4. A sweater drier which includes: a wire frame with a generally horizontal central section, apair of upstanding body sections formed to support a sweater, the upper portions of said wire passing each other so that the free ends thereof areon opposite ,sides; and a bracket having a central portion with a pair of resilient legs on each -side thereof adapted to separately clamp opposite, end portions of said frame, whereby saidfreeends of said frame may be individually adjusted'to vary the shape thereof. j

DONALD C. iGRANfI. 

